Fountain pen



March 8, 1966 G. A. RuBlssow FOUNTAIN PEN Filed July 20, 1964 INVENTORUnited States Patent 3,238,927 FOUNTAIN PEN George A. Rubissow, 420Riverside Drive, New York 25, N.Y. Filed July 20, 1964, Ser. No. 383,89712 Claims. (Cl. 120-46) This specification is a continuation-in-part ofthe USA. application for Letters Patent Ser. No. 107,877, filed March15, 1961 under the title: Free Piston Fountain Pen, now Patent Number3,147,741, granted September 9, 1964.

A free piston magnetic piston armature slidably mounted in a barrel of afountain pen is known in US Patent No. 2,734,485, but this knownembodiment is not operatable because the piston easily sticks in thebarrel and the force of the magnet is insufficient to unstick it and tomove it to-and-fro as required.

The present invention is an ideal most economical and practical solutionof a fountain pen operated with a free magnetically attractablepiston-like pusher which however does not touch at all the innersurfaces of the barrel or casing of the fountain pen for purposes ofproducing a tightness needed for a suction or pumping effect in thebarrel. This free pusher according to this invention is attached to theclosed end of the ink receiver which is easily bendable and easilycollapsible in the longitudinal direction. The other open end of the inkreceiver is hermetically sealably attached to the pen holding member orto the barrel (casing) of the fountain pen and thus establishes aninterconnection between the inner space of the ink receiver and thechannelling means of the pen holding member.

Like references refer to like subjects in the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional simplified longitudinal sideview of oneembodiment of this invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional plan views of FIG. 1 in the planesIIII and IIIIII.

FIGS. 4, 5, 6 and 7 are diagrammatical cross-sectional side views withparts broken out of another embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan cross-sectional view of an ink receiver of anotherembodiment of this invention.

On FIGS. 1 to 7 are shown main embodiments of this invention using amagnetically attractable loose free piston like pusher 19 or 20 or 22D,i.e. a piston-like pusher which does not require any pistons tightnessin respect to the inner surface C of the cylinder of the casing 10 ofthe fountain pen in which it can move limitedly to-andfro in thelongitudinal direction in order to produce pumping suction or evacuationeffects of the ink. This loose pusher according to this invention ismade from a magnetically attractable material (such as iron, some ofaluminum alloys, etc.) and is attached to the closed end 16A of the thinwalled receiver 16, elastic or non-elastic easily collapsible in thelongitudinal direction i.e. in the direction of the longitudinalsymmetry axis of the casing 10. Such ink receiver could be made from amaterial of the group of latex or rubber composition artificial ornatural, for instance such as used in making male-contraceptives, ormade from a fish skin bladder, or made from any natural or artificialplastics or resins offering the required characteristics, or from anyother suitable material.

When above it was stated that the material can be elastic or non-elasticthe word elastic in relation to this invention means that it will permiteasy collapsing or bending. According to this invention it is notnecessary that the ink receiver has an elasticity necessary for pumpingof ink due to such elasticity, nor is it necessary that the inkreceiver, according to this invention, be stretchable or expandable.Obviously, the ink receiver according to this invention could bestretched and expanded as does latex, but such capacities for expansionare not used and only the bending and the easily collapsing capacitiesare used. Once the fountain pen is filled with the ink the pressure ofink upon the thin walled ink receiver is so minimal, that the expansionof these walls will not occur. The thickness 17 of such wall of the inkreceiver 16, according to this invention, could be very thin, and by wayof example only, excellent results are obtained with a thickness 17 of awall substantially equal to that of a male contraceptive.

The open end 163 or 16CB of the ink receiver could be mounted in anyknown way for instance upon a support ring 13 and sealed to it. Theinside volume 16V of the receiver 16 is the volume of the ink which itcould hold. This receiver 16 may if desired be provided, according tothis invention, with concentric reinforcement rings 18 spaced at adesired distance 16D one from another and made from a very thin wire ofa rigid material, for instance metal, glass or plastic. (If made fromsteel wire of mm. diameter, even then 15 of such rings pressed togetherlongitudinally one to another will occupy only 1 mm. width in total.)The number of rings could be as many as desired and they should have asuitable resiliency, i.e. a suitable diameter of their cross-section sothat the ink receiver will not collapse in the radial direction, but atthe same time will easily collapse in the longitudinal direction alongaxis XX. Instead of rings 18 a continuous spiral 188 could be used asshown in FIGS. 6 and 7. If desired the spirals longitudinal springresiliency could be so chosen that it will not exceed the longitudinalself-collapsing quality of this ink receiver needed for its collapsingaction. Such rings or spiral could be embedded into the walls of the inkreceiver.

The loose free piston 19 could be attached either inside of the inkreceiver 16 or 16C, FIGS. 1 and 6 at its bottom part 16A or 16CA orcould be placed outside of it and be attached to the outside part 16A or16CA of the ink receiver 16 as shown on FIG. 1 by 20 or on FIG. 6 by22B. Both pistons 19 and 20 could be used simultaneously.

The magnetic action could be provided by making this loose free pistonof a magnetically attractable material, such as iron, aluminum alloys,etc.

A magnet 12 which when placed outside of the fountain pen as shown by12A in dotted lines will force the piston 19 or 22 or both to follow themovement of the magnet 12A in the direction of the arrow 23, and thuswill compress the easily collapsable ink receiver 16 in the longitudinaldirection and thus will empty it from ink or from air. Immersing thenthe pen nib into an ink bottle, and moving at the same time the magnetin the direction of the arrow 24 (opposite to the arrow 23) the magnetwill thus pull the loose free piston-pusher from its postion of 19Ashown in dotted lines, back to its position 19 and thus perform thepumping action and fill the ink receiver with the ink.

To avoid that the downward urge of the free piston-like pusher such as19 or 20 or 223 produces an undersirable too rapid flow of the ink fromthe ink receiver 16, the weight (a) of this piston, the collapsing andbending qualities (b) of the ink receiver and the resiliency springreaction effect (c) of the reinforcement means, if and when such areused or are made in a form of a spiral, should be so chosen that thetotal sum of this a+b+c=Z will give a necessary resulting force Z, whichwill be of such magnitude that it will not allow the undesirable tooquick flow out of the ink from the ink receiver 16 during the writing orduring the holding of the fountain pen downward i.e. with the nibdirected downward.

If the spiral coil type spring 185 FIGS. 6 and 7 of reinforcing means isnot used then the value of will be equal zero, thus a+b+c=a+b=z.

This invention thus permits to have a magnetically operated pusher towork as piston although it is not a piston as such, but is only a pusherfor the ink receiver 16 to which it is attached.

When the pusher 19 attached to the closed end of the ink receiver insideof the ink receiver 16, it will not touch during its to-and-fro movementthe inner surface 100 of the casing because the ink receivers thin wallsare interposed between them.

When the pusher is attached to the closed end of the ink receiveroutside of the ink receiver, then such a pusher could if desired beprovided with at least one row of ball-bearings. Two such rows 21A and21B are shown on FIGS. 1 and 3. Three or four balls 22 per each hearingare sufficient. The balls are rolling freely on the rolling surface ofthe inner bearing ring 21 and at the same time on the inner surface 10Cof the casing 10 and this will reduce considerably the frictionengagement between the pusher and the inner surface 10C of the casing10, and thus even a very small magnetic force of even substantially aweak magnet will be suflicient to move to-and-fro such a pusher insideof the casing and thus compress or decompress longitudinally the inkreceiver.

Any type of ball bearings could be used. The balls and the bearing ringscould be made of plastic, glass, metal, etc. The pusher and if desiredthe bearing rings could be made of a magnetically attractable materialor each be a magnet.

The magnet 12 (or a piece made from a magnetically attractable material)could be placed inside of the safety cap 11 at its closed end 11B, orany any convenient place.

The reinforcement means such as rings or spiral could be entirelyeliminated.

The loose free piston itself could be as well a magnet and then it couldbe moved to-and-fro in the casing either by a magnet, in which case onemagnet will attract another one, or by a simple piece of iron or anothermagnetically attractable material which will attract such magnet i.e. aloose free piston. The fountain pen casing 10 should for this embodimentpreferably be provided with at least one vent 25 to permit free air fromthe atmosphere to penetrate inside of the casing 10 and to prevent theundesired expansion of the air inside of the casing between the innerwall 10C of the casing and the outer walls of the ink receiver 16. Sucha fountain pen will not leak and its functioning will be very easy andit will be durable.

In order to avoid friction, lubricating means such as powdered talcumcould be used between the ink receiver 16 and the inner walls 10C of thecasing. The free end of the ink receiver could be provided with a fewhairs 26, FIG. 8 made out of either pure hair or of very thin rubber andspread like a cats whiskers to avoid friction.

All herein described embodiments of piston-like pusher could be used notonly for a fountain pen but as well for instance for the operation ofany conventional pump or other machinery or instruments, and will give agood result. Although this application refers to the fountain pen, theparticular structure of this piston does as well cover all types of itsapplication and for any use other than for a fountain pen.

What I claim is:

1. A magnetically operated fountain pen comprising a casing, a penholding member, a nib, mounted upon it, a safety cap, ink channellingmeans provided in said penholder member, an easily collapsable inlongitudinal direction thin walled ink receiver made from a material ofthe group of natural or artificial rubber, latex, plastics, resins, fishskin bladders and other suitably easily bendable substances, said inkreceiver having an open and a closed end, said openend being sealablymounted in communication with said channelling means, said closed endhaving at least one piston-like-pusher made of magnetically attractablematerial being affixed to it, the longitudinal resiliency of saidink-receiver being such that it will permit a self-collapsing of saidink-receiver in the longitudinal direction along its symmetric axiswhereby when a magnet is placed and moved to-and-fro along the outsideof said casing said pusher will also be respectively moved to-and-frofollowing the corresponding movements of said magnet.

2. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 1 whereinsaid pusher is attached inside of said inkreceiver to said closed end.

3. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 1,reinforcement means being provided for said ink-receiver around itsperiphery to control its collapsing effect.

4. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 1, saidpusher being attached inside of said inkreceiver to said closed end,said pusher being provided with at least one row of ball bearing means,each row having only an inner bearing ring upon which the balls of saidball-bearing means roll whereby at the same time roll on the innersurface of said casing, forming thus the outer bearing ring.

5. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 1, onepart of said pusher is attached to the inside surface of said closed endwhile another part of said pusher is attached to the outer surface ofsaid closed end, said another part being provided with at least one rowof ball bearing means, each row having only an inner bearing ring uponwhich the balls of said ball-bearing means roll, while at the same timethey roll on the inner surface of said casing, thus forming the outerbearing ring.

6. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 3, saidreinforcement means being concentric cir-- cles made of rigid materialand spaced at predetermined longitudinal distance between them.

7. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 3, saidreinforcement means being a spiral surrounding the periphery of saidink-receiver and attached to it.

in claim 3 wherein said reinforcement means are embedded in the walls ofsaid ink-receiver.

9. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 1,lubrication means are provided between the outer surface of saidlink-receiver and the inner surface of said casing to reduce thefriction engagement between the atmosphere.

12. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth in claim 1, thediameter of said pusher being substantially smaller than the innerdiameter of said casing.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 848,023 3/1907Fuller -46 2,492,058 12/1949 OConnor l2046 X 2,734,485 2/1956 Millas120-47 3,147,741 4/1963 Rubissow l204 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, PrimaryExaminer. JEROME SCHNALL, Examiner.

EMANUEL HOROWITZ, Assistant Examiner.

8. A magnetically operated fountain pen as set forth

1. A MAGNETICALLY OPERATED FOUNTAIN PEN COMPRISING A CASING, A PEN HOLDING MEMBER, A NIB, MOUNTED UPON IT, A SAFETY CAP, INK CHANNELLING MEANS PROVIDED IN SAID PENHOLDER MEMBER, AN EASILY COLLAPSABLE IN LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION THIN WALLED INK RECEIVER MADE FROM A MATERIAL OF THE GROUP OF NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL RUBBER, LATEX, PLASTICS, RESINS, FISH SKIN BLADDERS AND OTHER SUITABLY EASILY BENDABLE SUBSTANCES, SAID INK RECEIVER HAVING AN OPEN AND A CLOSED END, SAID OPEN END BEING SEALABLY MOUNTED IN COMMUNICATION WITH SAID CHANNELLING MEANS, SAID CLOSED END HAVING AT LEAST ONE PISTON-LIKE-PUSHER MADE OF MAGNETICALLY ATTRACTABLE MATERIAL BEING AFFIXED TO IT, THE LONGITUDINAL RESILIENCY OF SAID INK-RECEIVER BEING SUCH THAT IT WILL PERMIT A SELF-COLLAPSING OF SAID INK-RECEIVER IN THE LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION ALONG ITS SYMMETRIC AXIS WHEREBY WHEN A MAGNET IS PLACED AND MOVED TO-AND-FRO ALONG THE OUTSIDE OF SAID CASING SAID PUSHER WILL ALSO BE RESPECTIVELY MOVED TO-AND-FRO FOLLOWING THE CORRESPONDING MOVEMENTS OF SAID MAGNET. 